THE ISSF TRIANGLE
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| Olegario Vázquez Raña and María de los Angeles Aldir with Bill Krilling and Franz Schreiber, son of Horst and Heidi Schreiber |
The “modern ISSF era” began in February 1980 with the election of a new President and Secretary General during the ISSF General Assembly of the XXII Olympiad that was held in Mexico City. Olegario Vázquez Raña (Mexico) was elected as the sixth ISSF President and Horst G. Schreiber (Germany) was elected as the ninth ISSF Secretary General. This blog is about how the new ISSF leadership team was formed.
Gary’s connection with this story goes back to the 1963 Pan American Games when both Olegario Vázquez Raña, his brother Mario Vázquez Raña, Bill Krilling and Gary all competed as athletes in the rifle events. Gary and Olegario developed a close friendship as they continued to compete for their respective national teams in the 1964 Olympics, 1966 World Championship, 1967 Pan American Games and 1968 Olympics. The 1968 Games were in Mexico City where Olegario and his wife Gela invited Ruth Ann and two other U. S. team wives to stay at their home. The two families also trained and traveled together in Europe in 1969 during Gary’s last year of international competition.
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| Bill Krilling, left and Gary Anderson on the victory stand for 3x40 50m, 1963 Pan Am Games |
ISSF politics brought Olegario and Gary back together at the 1978 General Assembly in Seoul, Korea where both were new candidates for election to the ISSF Administrative Council. That story actually began in 1976, however, when Olegario’s brother Mario was a candidate for ISSF President at the General Assembly in Montreal. The NRA was then the USA national federation member of the ISSF. In the 1976 election, Mario Vázquez Raña lost by one vote to Georges Vichos of Greece and the NRA delegates voted against Mario. Mario subsequently decided not to pursue the ISSF Presidency again, but his younger brother Olegario decided to be a candidate for ISSF President at the 1980 General Assembly. Gary had become the NRA Executive Director, General Operations, in 1977 as the result of a major power shift in the NRA (i. e. “1977 Cincinnati Revolution” and the ascension of Harlon Carter). That put Gary in a position to be one of the NRA delegates to the 1978 ISSF General Assembly and a candidate for the ISSF Administrative Council. Gary and Olegario both finished at the top of the voting list to become new Council members. This gave Olegario a platform from which to launch his campaign for ISSF President and with his new position, Gary was able to switch the NRA/USA vote to support Olegario’s candidacy.
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| Olegario and Gary |
Olegario had been an active, successful shooter who competed for Mexico in four Olympic Games (1964, 1968, 1972, 1976) and five World Championships (1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1979). His outstanding marksmanship accomplishments included two air rifle world records, set in 1973 and 1975. Olegario had become a very successful Mexico City entrepreneur who managed a diverse portfolio of businesses so he was well qualified to lead the ISSF. Since the ISSF roots were in Europe, Olegario wisely decided that he needed a European and preferably a German to be his Secretary General and partner. That search led him to Horst Schreiber and the second side of the ISSF triangle.
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| Olegario Vàsquez Raña, active competitor on the Mexican Shooting Team |
The story of how Horst and Olegario met now goes back to 1955 when Horst met the third side of the ISSF triangle, Master Sergeant William E. “Bill” Krilling, (1927-2014). Bill was a war hero who received the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in combat during the Korean War. He was a great shooter, coach, and true friend of everyone who knew him. He won seven medals in international competitions including a Pan-American Games silver medal in 1963 and a World Championship bronze medal in 1966.
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| Distinguished Service Cross presented to Bill Krilling for gallantry during combat during the Vietnam War |
From September 1955 until February 1959, Bill Krilling was assigned to the 373rd Armored Inf. Bn. and the 370th Inf. Bn. near Munich, Germany. Bill and Maureen Krilling first met Heidi Sweekhorst and Horst Schreiber in 1955 at a friendship shoot in Munich between the American Rod and Gun Club and the German Club Hubertus for Hunting and Sport Shooting.
It is very common in Germany, even expected, that when eating at a table in a restaurant where there are empty places, you invite people you don’t know to sit down with you in those empty seats. It just happened that Bill and Maureen and Horst and Heidi sat at the same table and started talking to one another (Horst and Heidi spoke excellent English). A friendship was born and the ISSF triangle was starting to form.
During those times (late 1950’s) Maureen Krilling could get valued American products at the Commissary and would bring items like coffee, tin foil and saran wrap that were not available on the German market to Heidi and Horst. Heidi and Horst welcomed the Krillings into their German family life. In June 1957, when Horst and Heidi were married, Bill Krilling’s daughter Kathy was a flower girl at the wedding.
In 1959, Bill returned to the U. S. and was assigned to the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning. Bill and Olegario subsequently met and became good friends when Olegario traveled to Lackland Air Force Base to compete in competitions there as a guest competitor. They were both competitors in the 1963 Pan Am Games in San Paulo, Brazil and the 1966 World Championship in Wiesbaden, Germany.
In 1971, when Bill Krilling retired from the Army and was between Army and civil service jobs, he was invited to come to Mexico and coach Olegario and teammate Jesús Elizondo for six months. The Mexican team and Coach Krilling traveled to Munich in 1971 on a training trip and it was there that Bill Krilling introduced Horst Schreiber to Olegario. Horst and Heidi invited the Krillings and Olegario and his wife Gela to dinner the next evening. Since that time, these families became very close and the ISSF triangle was complete.
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| Olegario Vázquez Raña, Bill Krilling, and Jesús Elizando |
Horst Schreiber (1928-2010) was educated as a lawyer at the University of Munich and Harvard University in the USA. He was a prominent attorney in Munich, but he was also an enthusiastic hunter and sports club leader who had successfully served in leadership roles in the sports of shooting, golf and tennis (from An ISSF Chronicle)1 . By then, Olegario was looking for a corporate lawyer to oversee his expanding businesses in Europe and hired Horst.
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| María de los Angeles Aldir with Horst and Heidi Schreiber |
By the late 1970s when Olegario decided to become a candidate for ISSF President, he not only wanted a new German leader who could be a candidate for Secretary General, but he also knew he needed someone with legal and administrative skills and a passion for the shooting sports. The German Shooting Federation agreed with his proposal to nominate Horst for the office of Secretary General. On February 14, 1980, Olegario was elected President of the ISSF and Horst Schreiber was elected Secretary General. Horst’s law office at 21 Bavariaring, Munich, became the new ISSF Headquarters. The building was also the childhood home of Heidi Sweekhorst Schreiber.
Note: Franz Schreiber, son of Horst and Heidi, was elected as the 10th ISSF Secretary General in 2011 and continues to most capably perform the duties of that office today.
For contributions to this blog story, I am grateful to:
Olegario Vázquez Raña, President ISSF
Heidi Schreiber
Kathy Krilling Nickerson
1 An ISSF Chronicle – The First 100 years of an International Sports Federation
